Using Anie Leaonard\'s "Story of Stuff" (www.storyofstuff.com), we created this presentation as a Catholic perspective to our participation in consumerism. This is a great way to introduce the themes of Catholic Social teaching to both teens and adults,

1. To explore, in the light of Catholic Social Teaching, the underlying causes and processes that support and drive consumerism. To identify our own hidden assumptions and inherent actions that underlie how we individually participate in the cycle of consumerism. To deepen appreciation for the Catholic worldview and how Catholic Christians interact with the world.

2. “ Our enormously productive economy . . . demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption . . . we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.” - Victor Lebow

3. CITIZEN = CONSUMER CITIZEN ≠ CONSUMER

11. www.usccb.org www.storyofstuff.com Related Resources